The Sarah Palin puzzle

September 15, 2008|by Chris EngleStaff Writer

Editor’s note: Former Herald Times (HT) editor Victoria Naegele (1988-1994), who resides in Palmer, Alaska, spoke with HT Staff Writer Chris Engle by phone Monday. Naegele shared her recollections of current vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin who, in 1996, was elected mayor of Wasilla — a small town of then-5,000 people where Naegele served as managing editor of the town’s newspaper, The Frontiersman. Naegele also shared her accounts of Palin as a person, a mom, a politician, a governor and, now, a woman who has garnered national attention as John McCain’s running mate in November’s presidential election.

Naegele has two daughters: Rachel, 24, who is attending Michigan State University, and Karaline, 20, a senior at University of Alaska Fairbanks; a son, Jonas, 16, a senior at Palmer High School; and a husband, Philip, who works for the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. She currently serves as a part-time editor for The Frontiersman.

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WASILLA, Alaska — It’s an alternate universe in Wasilla, Alaska right now; “The Sarah Palin Universe,” Vicki Naegele calls it, where a “cheerleader excitement” has taken over the town of 9,000 people following the announcement Wasilla’s former mayor and hometown girl Sarah Palin will join Sen. John McCain in the presidential race.

Naegele, who currently lives in Palmer, another small community about 12 miles east of Wasilla, saw Palin’s political roots take hold in the soil of city government when she successfully ran for mayor in 1996 against three-term incumbent John Stein. Then managing editor of The Frontiersman, Naegele observed a mayoral race “very different” than any other ever witnessed by the people of Wasilla.

“Things that really had nothing to do with being mayor crept into — and played a deciding factor in — that election,” Naegele said, citing Palin’s endorsement by the National Rifle Association and the Republican Party, as well as her Right-to-Life stance as influential in her strong victory over Stein. “She was very much backed by the Republican Party … in a nonpartisan race. We had not seen a race run like that before.”

In the months that followed, Wasilla became immersed in political turbulence when Palin ousted several city employees because “she didn’t feel like she had their support,” Naegele said. With Naegele at the helm, The Frontiersman took a strong stance against that decision — as well as Palin’s choice to hire a deputy administrator and, in turn, took a blow when Palin declared no city department head could speak to the media without her permission.

“It was a very tumultuous time,” Naegele said of the months leading up to a public cry for Palin’s recall in February that came around the same time that things finally smoothed out in the mayor’s office.

“Whether that was her settling into her job, I don’t know. She (Palin) herself said she learned a lot during those first few months,” Naegele said.

As mayor of Wasilla, then later as governor of Alaska, Naegele said Palin had her successes. Wasilla’s doubled in size since Palin’s term began, and she was effective in streamlining the spending of state government.

“The things she cut she felt could be locally matched,” Naegele said. “It was even-handed. I have to give her credit for her ‘don’t expect the state to do everything for you’ mentality.”

As for the reactions of Alaskans following the VP selection, “It’s been insane.”

Naegele said Palin has an 80-percent approval rating. “People like her here. It’s exciting to have their governor chosen,” said Naegele.

Whether those few turbid months as mayor plays the role in this election the media has made it out to be, Naegele calls it “a narrow piece of the whole pie.”

“I wouldn’t stretch it too far,” she said. “Everyone grows, and I trust she has too. It’s still a piece of the whole puzzle. It is Sarah Palin.”